Part Two of our interview with Earnest

EaEdE: So are you ready to talk about what you meant by "I think I care about sound more than most people?"

EARNEST: Yeah. I think what I meant was sounds. I pay a lot of attention to sounds. After spending the better part of an hour reading an impassioned online debate by guitar players about whether a particular microphone is amazing or terrible, I remembered that there are plenty of people, musicians, who care a great deal more about some sound specifics than I ever will. But for a non-musician, I care excessively.

EaEdE: You call yourself a non-musician, but you put on something of a show in public today, no?

EARNEST: Yeah I was beating two sticks together. Accompanying a pair of those loud djembe drummers that annoy people in public.

EaEdE: What made you do that all of a sudden?

EARNEST: The guys knew some complex rhythms but couldn't hold them together. They needed help. I did it for the sake of the many dozens of people and wet dogs in the captive audience.

EaEdE: You got a lot of compliments on your clave-playing, and you gathered a small crowd. You haven't done anything like that in a number of years. Do you even remember when?

EARNEST: No. I don't remember. I think it's rude to subject people to loud spastic hand drumming in public, especially at such a peaceful and crowded place like Barton Springs on a 100 degree day.

EaEdE: The one drummer guy said you were playing a 12 count rhythm.

EARNEST: Yeah that's what he said. I've never been able to count and play even though I can hold some pretty tricky beats. I suppose if I could count I could consider myself a percussionist for real. These guys, you see them everywhere. Especially anywhere hairy people are partying hard outdoors in nature somewhere. I thought it was funny that we were sitting by a natural creek but it smelled like a bar, or a dead concert parking lot. Anyway these types often know an awful lot about hand drums and ethnic rhythms, but they just sound awful. I got fed up with this scene many years ago. Hand drums should always be played dynamically and respectfully. They're sacred in many cultures for a reason, and they piss people off in ours for reasons just as good.

EaEdE: So what else happened today?

EARNEST: I went swimming with my dog, Cafe.

EaEdE: What else?

EARNEST: I agreed to do one more blog entry in the style of a magazine interview. I kind of wish I didn't.

EaEdE: And?

EARNEST: I got a job. Driving a boat. On the lake.

EaEdE: Pretty fucking sweet?

EARNEST: Yes. I'm ecstatic, to tell the truth. It pays much better than I thought because there are tips as well as a decent base pay and benefits. It will allow me to keep accumulating sea time towards a captain's license someday, as I was doing when I quit my job on the dolphin boat in Key West over a year ago. It never occurred to me to update my boating resume for finding a job in central Texas. Then I saw this ad on Craigslist, stayed up nearly all night tweaking a fourth version of my resume, had a great interview this morning, and I start tomorrow. I was really getting burned out on resume editing and sending, as you may have noticed.

EaEdE: Yes, you were sniveling again.

EARNEST: Well no more.

EaEdE: And what about the personal life?

EARNEST: Well I'll just say that if you think these blogs are stupid, too revealing, and go way too far, you oughta see some of the personal emails I compose. Good grief. They do me no good whatsoever but I'm not sure I'll ever learn.

EaEdE: Learn what?

EARNEST: Not to compose and send drivel. Blogging snivel, and emailing pathos-soaked drivel. I want to learn to stop doing that. I'd also like to finally learn the craft of technical writing now that I'm here in one of the capitals of it. I'm going to start looking for a part-time internship. There is a lot of work in this field here, and I know I can do it. I just need some training. I spent an hour just this evening writing a pretty darned technical email to a band that wants me to mix a few shows for them.

EaEdE: For money?

EARNEST: Yes, money and a hotel room in Dallas for a big show they are doing. But I can't commit to it until tomorrow, after I check with my new boss on the lake. That's my bread and butter, or my sprouted tortillas and organic vegetarian refried beans. I'm trying to ween off the Taco Bell addiction and I'm having some success. That's why I yelled "FUCK" when I saw there was one near my new place of employment today.

EaEdE: You think you're pretty funny, don't you? Are you sure you don't want to mention anything specifically that might be worth noting that happened in your personal life today?

EARNEST: No, dude, leave me alone about that.

EaEdE: Well you don't seem to be sniveling about it, so that's good.

EARNEST: Yeah that's good. Let's just leave it at that for now. It's all good, in fact. I'm starting with nothing but I've found a bottom rung to reach up for. I mean that about the job, not the personal life. I don't have a ready metaphor for the personal life. I just think once I have a job, and then in good time my own place, I'll appear more normal and less creepy to people, and more importantly, I'll feel better.

EaEdE: Well Earnest, I'd like to thank you very much for joining us.

EARNEST: Enough of that already. I know your wires are a little crossed from listening to way too much public radio over the years. But this format is giving me the creeps. Just go back to writing about me tomorrow in the third person narrative format that absolves you of all responsibility, or the more fun journalistic layout with headlines. Or I'll just write the fucking thing myself....